“You can run but you can’t hide,” was what Lesley Craig was told by her husband Larry recently when she related an incident that happened to her.

A couple of weeks ago, Lesley approached Castle Valley librarian Faylene Roth about requesting the book “Ship of Fools” by one of her favorite authors, Katherine Anne Porter. The request was submitted to the main library in Moab and a librarian there filled the order and set it aside to be delivered back to Castle Valley later in the week. As a second thought, he remembered seeing a book by the same author entitled “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” in a stack of donated books and thought it would be a nice gesture to include that book as a free gift along with the loaned book.

Last week, when Lesley picked up her requested book, Faylene also presented her with the gifted book and explained the circumstances that led up to the free book. Lesley exclaimed, “I used to have that book.” As she thumbed through the pages she found her own name written on the inside cover of the book. That’s when she remembered that her husband had donated a stack of books to the library to be given to patrons who might want them. Lesley thought it was neat of the Moab librarian to think of her and send the free book.

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A tree planting party is planned for next Monday, Oct. 15 beginning at 8 a.m. Castle Valley Town Clerk Ali Fuller, who applied for and received a 50–50 grant for the nearly 20 trees and shrubs, will supervise the effort. She said there will be five large trees to be planted around the parking and lawn areas and 15 smaller trees and shrubs for shade and wind and a dust break along the front of the Town Hall building.

The grant was provided by TreeUtah, a non-profit organization based in Salt Lake City, which funds a lot of plantings all over the state. They operate High Mountain Nursery, which replaced the State Forestry nursery that operated for many years near Point of the Mountain in Utah County.

Fuller said she was glad to support Castle Valley’s two nurseries, which supplied mostly native varieties of trees and shrubs. Some of the varieties came from Rees Native Gardens and were collected from seeds that are native to Castle Valley and have been growing for five years. The Rocky Mountain junipers and some of the larger trees were provided by Canyon Nursery of Castle Valley, and Moab-based Wildland Scapes furnished some of the other varieties and compost.

The varieties include native cottonwood, desert olive, honey locust, squaw bush, sage, cliff rose, and hackberry. Fuller said that the town already has a great landscape but the additional plantings will close up a few gaps and provide more shade.

The planting day is open to everyone who would like to volunteer a couple of hours next Monday morning to help plant the trees. Representatives from TreeUtah will also come down from Salt Lake City to give a brief demonstration on the proper way to plant the trees and help with the planting.

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The town’s new road shed is nearly completed and should be ready for occupancy soon. The building, which was funded by a low-interest loan from the Utah Permanent Community Impact Fund Board, was constructed by Moab Construction. The building has been completed, the fire station’s propane tank and the town’s fuel tank have been located in a special space provided for them and the grounds have a layer of gravel spread between the fire house and the road shed. The electricians still have a couple of days’ work to complete the project.

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Thirty years ago this week in “Castle Valley Comments,” it was reported that seven residents submitted their names for election to the Castle Valley River Ranchos Property Owners Association board of directors. According to the article, “The election is to be conducted during the annual general meeting, which will be held Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Ramada Inn, beginning at 9 a.m.”

The seven people seeking four positions on the board were Norma Montague, Virginia Halley, Linda Jarman, Dennis Godwin, Joan Schmidt, Don Tuft and Elizabeth Grega. Ken DeVore was the automatic holdover from the previous board.

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